The Pontifical Academy has promoted a conference to officially launch the Department of Analysis and Study of Criminal and Mafia Phenomena. The scope of the interdisciplinary body is to stop the influence of the underworld on religious events and places dedicated to the Virgin, including the “detours” taken by some Marian processions in southern Italy to salute mafia bosses under house arrest.
A seminary located in the heart of Argentina’s famous Mendoza wine region was ordered closed by the local bishop following instructions from the Vatican after a revolt over COVID-19 safety measures.
Vatican employees and workers who have contact with the public are being tested for the antibodies for COVID-19, said the new director of the Vatican department of health and hygiene.
China has been accused of hacking Vatican computers as well as those in the Diocese of Hong Kong and other Catholic organizations in May. The hacking appears to be an attempt to gain an advantage in talks between the Vatican and China, due to resume as early as this week, about a fresh deal on the appointment of bishops.
Tomorrow is Opening Day of the COVID-shortened Major League Baseball season, and, like all red-blooded Americans, that has me thinking about fantasy drafts. If you’ve never played before, the idea is simple: You and a bunch of other people draft players to form a team, then track their statistical performance throughout the season. Whichever team has the best stats, wins.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a 17-page document offering a step-by-step guide for how bishops, religious superiors and canon lawyers are supposed to handle accusations of alleged abuse by clerics against minors.
After receiving sharp criticism in recent days for not speaking out about protests in Hong Kong and the recent decision to revert Turkey’s famed Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque, Pope Francis broke his silence on the latter July 12, calling himself “pained” by the decision.
Decrying the unimaginable “hell” migrants experience in detention centers, Pope Francis urged all Christians to examine how they do or don’t help — as Jesus commanded — the people God has placed in their path.
In a set of updated guidelines for catechesis released June 25, the Vatican weighed in on what has long been a debate among theologians, insisting that the Church’s sacraments are a gift, and as such, they cannot be denied to disabled people.
Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, now at the ripe age of 93, is scheduled to return to Rome this morning after a quick trip to Regensburg to visit his ailing 96-year-old brother – a trip which, given his increasing frailty and desire to keep a low profile, has been described by many observers as his last ‘cameo’.
